A B737-800 crew was cleared to line up and wait. While holding in position the captain mistakenly sh...

Narrative:

We were told to line up and wait on xx. I brought the aircraft to a stop; and for some strange reason; I reached over and shut down both engines instead of setting the parking brake. We told tower that we had an 'issue' and would be in place for a minute or two and then we would have to taxi clear. We started the right engine and taxied clear of the runway so we could redo checklists and regroup. When the tower later asked what our issue was; I think that we told the tower that we had to look at a light (yeah; lots of lights). With the start levers being right next to the parking brake; I guess that once my hand was on the start levers; positioned right next to the parking brake; then muscle memory took over and moved them to off. I need to slow down and think about what I am doing before moving any switch or lever. This was definitely the healthiest dose of humility ever in my 30 plus years of flying.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-800 crew was cleared to line up and wait. While holding in position the Captain mistakenly shut down both engine while intending to set the parking brake.

Narrative: We were told to line up and wait on XX. I brought the aircraft to a stop; and for some strange reason; I reached over and shut down both engines instead of setting the parking brake. We told Tower that we had an 'issue' and would be in place for a minute or two and then we would have to taxi clear. We started the right engine and taxied clear of the runway so we could redo checklists and regroup. When the Tower later asked what our issue was; I think that we told the Tower that we had to look at a light (yeah; lots of lights). With the start levers being right next to the parking brake; I guess that once my hand was on the start levers; positioned right next to the parking brake; then muscle memory took over and moved them to off. I need to slow down and think about what I am doing before moving any switch or lever. This was definitely the healthiest dose of humility ever in my 30 plus years of flying.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1185648
Time
Date	201407
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A B737-800 crew was cleared to line up and wait. While holding in position the captain mistakenly shut down both engine while intending to set the parking brake.